Highlights
- Tamil film ‘Soorarai Pottru’ wins Best Film Award at IFFM, actor Suriya Sivakumar bags Best Actor Award
- Vidya Balan takes home Best Actor (Female) Award for Hindi film ‘Sherni’
- ‘Mirzapur Season 2’ bags newly-introduced Best Web Series Award
As part of the 12th edition of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM), several movies, web series and artistes won awards at a virtual ceremony last week.
Popular Indian actors Vidya Balan, Manoj Bajpayee and Pankaj Tripathi, amongst others picked up awards for feature films and web series, which was a newly-introduced category at this year’s IFFM.
Vidya Balan bagged the Best Actor (Female) Award for her film Sherni, while Pankaj Tripathi was honoured with the Diversity in Cinema Award presented by La Trobe University. Indian filmmaker Anurag Basu took home the Best Director award for Ludo.
Mirzapur Season 2 won the Best Web Series Award while Samantha Akkineni won the award for Best Actress in The Family Man 2, for which Manoj Bajpayee the award for Best Actor.
Tamil film Soorarai Pottru won the Best Film Award and actor Suriya Sivakumar won the Best Actor (Male) Award.
Chennai born actor Suriya Sivakumar and his film 'Soorarai Pottru' has won awards at Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2021. Source: Supplied by IFFM
The award ceremony – IFFM’s most popular event – was held online in the presence of the Governor of Victoria Linda Dessau, Federal minister Jason Wood, Indian film-makers Anurag Kashyap, Shoojit Sircar, Onir, Thiagarajan Kumararaja, Guneet Monga, Sriram Raghavan and actor Richa Chadha.
Also present on the occasion were Pankaj Tripathi, Manoj Bajpayee, Australian filmmaker Geoffrey Wright, Oscar-nominated editor Jill Bilcock and IFFM director Mitu Bhowmick Lange.
“It is about time that we have conversations in cinema and about cinema that are not mainstream and biased. It is time to present the diverse sensibilities through narratives that are ground-breaking and all the winners of the IFFM awards symbolise this fervour of thought,” Ms Lange said.
“Cinema or series, [both] are highly collaborative. I have always found it very embarrassing to take away awards just for myself and not talk about everyone who has been so instrumental in making that performance happen,” Mr Bajpayee said after winning the award.
Manoj Bajpayee wins the Best Performance (Male) in a webseries category for his performance in 'The Family Man Season 2'. Source: AAP Image/Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
Calling it “a huge honour”, Ms Akkineni said, “[it’s my] first time at this festival. To be here amongst such immense talent., I’m grateful for this character that has so many layers and such diverse parts to it. It’s my big dive into OTT and what an amazing show to do it with”.
For receiving the Diversity in Cinema award, Tripathi said ‘This is very special to me. I am feeling humbled. it is especially inspiring for my craft.’
IFFM honors Pankaj Tripathi with Diversity in Cinema Award presented by LaTrobe University. Source: Supplied by IFFM
After winning the Best Actor (Male) award, Suriya said, “I felt bored with what I was doing after having worked for 20 years. So, thanks to my director Sudha – this film was her 10-year dream – the character of Maara will not be anything without her. I couldn’t ask for more”.
A thank you note from Vidya Balan was shared online who could not join the event.
The festival, on till 30 August, is currently screening over 100 films in more than 20 languages. Initially designed to run at cinema halls as well as online, the festival went fully digital after the lockdown was announced in Melbourne.
List of winners:
IFFM Short Film Competition (India) : MIXI (CHAKKI) | Directed by Jyotsna Puthran
IFFM Short Film Competition (Australia): Notun Surjo - The New Sun | Directed by Pulak Bose
Jury Special Mention: Vikas Khanna for Valley of Fireflies
Best Feature Film: Soorarai Pottru
Best Performance Male (Feature): Suriya Sivakumar (Soorarai Pottru)
Best Performance Female (Feature): Vidya Balan (Sherni)
Best Director: Anurag Basu (Ludo)
Best Series: Mirzapur Season 2
Best Performance (Female) in a Series: Samantha Akkineni (The Family Man 2)
Best Performance (Male) in a Series: Manoj Bajpayee (The Family Man 2)
Equality in Cinema (Short Film): Sheer Qorma
Equality in Cinema Award (Feature Film): The Great Indian Kitchen and God on the Balcony
Best Indie Film: Fire in the Mountains
Diversity in Cinema Award: Pankaj Tripathi (presented by La Trobe University)
IFFM Disruptor Award: Sanal Kumar Sasidharan
Jury Special Mention: Prithvi Konanur - Best Director for Pinki Elli?
Best Documentary Film: Shut Up Sona
Jury special mention: Nimisha Sajayan: Best Performance (Female): The Great Indian Kitchen
